CHARACTER OF THE THRASHER. 



325 



endowed it with a foxy character, and attributed to it a 

 peculiar astuteness. Its more familiar appellation of the 

 thrasher was given by modern sailors, and alludes to the 

 manner in which it manifests its remarkable antipathy to 

 the whale. It lashes the sea with a fury which has been 

 known to put to hasty flight a bevy of gambolling dolphins; 



EGOS OF TilK CAT-FJSH. 



and instances are recorded where a sword-fish on the 

 one hand, and a thrasher on the other, have persecuted a 

 large whale even to the death, though the terror of the 

 ocean-mammal is difficult to explain. The thrasher pos- 

 sesses no weapon of offence except its teeth, and these 



